The Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI), supported by the Ford Foundation, aims to help community colleges in distressed rural areas to expand access to postsecondary education and help foster regional economic development. MDC, Inc. managed RCCI in its demonstration phase, 1994-2001, providing technical assistance to 24 participating community colleges. A series of reports by the RCCI Assessment Team on the experiences of those 24 RCCI colleges is available from the American Association of Community Colleges. In 2002, RCCI was institutionalized as a program of the Southern Rural Development Center and the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development. For more information on the demonstration phase of RCCI, click here.